Christ the King Sunday and Daniel’s Kings

This children’s sermon was written for Christ the King Sunday, November 25, 2018. The children learned about Daniel in Sunday school this morning so I was hoping to help them connect Daniel’s story with this Sunday’s worship theme.

I brought this crown with me today. I wonder if you know what special Sunday this is.

(Allow children to respond.)

We don’t have kings anymore here. We have people that we hire, that we elect, to help rule our country.

But in Sunday school today, as we shared the story of Daniel, I believe there were some kings, right? In fact two or three. I wonder what you remember about them, what they did in the story.

(Allow children to respond and help them flesh out the story of Daniel.)

Daniel encountered some kings who really did bad things.

But one night he had a dream, and in that dream he envisioned two good kings, in fact they were more holy than kings. One sounds like God- he described him as the Ancient One, sitting on a throne. And the second one- See if you think it sounds like Jesus, even though he dreamed this 600 years before Jesus was born:

“In my vision at night I looked, and there in front of me was someone who looked like a human being.[d] He was coming on the clouds in the sky. He came up to the Ancient King, and the King’s servants brought him before the King.

14 “The one who looked like a human being was given authority, glory, and complete ruling power. People from every nation and language will serve him. His rule will last forever. His kingdom will continue forever. It will never be destroyed.

What do you think? It sounds like King Jesus to me.

The kings of old- like Daniel’s kings- got carried away with their power and forgot something important: that no one is more valuable than anyone else, but Jesus reminds us that we are all worthy of the same love, whether we have lots of things or we don’t have anything, men or women, young or old, no matter what country we’re from or what language we speak.

People from every nation and language will serve him. His rule will last forever. His kingdom will continue forever. It will never be destroyed

We’re all God’s children. Aren’t you glad we have a king like that? Let’s pray.

Dear God, thank you for sending Jesus, the king of our hearts. Help us as we try to treat each other like He did. We love you, God. Amen.